Tunisia President Beji Caid Essebsi, Hospitalized After Health Scare

Tunisia’s 92-year-old president, Beji Caid Essebsi, a major player in the country’s transition to democracy since 2011, was taken to a military hospital on Wednesday, mosaïque local radio said, the second health crisis for the president in a month.

The presidency was not immediately available for comment.

Essebsi had been hospitalized late last month and spent a week in hospital after suffering a “severe health crisis”.

But the president has only appeared twice since leaving the hospital on July 1.

Essebsi has been a prominent figure in Tunisia since the overthrow of veteran autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, which was followed by uprisings against authoritarian leaders across the Middle East, including in nearby Libya and Egypt.